he would have been crushed in the election. the democrats would have lost control of the senate and such. and these folks, even today, are climbing the failure to achieve the grand the trail -- the trail and safety net is the great disappointment. they not only tried to destroy themselves and the country, they are continuing to do that, indeed, but for harry reid, literally throwing the obama administration's suggestion that they do cuts to the safety net in the fireplace and burning it up, they would have gotten it as part of this interim austerity deal that was just done about eight days ago. >> we're going to take a break and come back to this discussion with william black, professor and matt taibbi, rolling stone editor. we will be back in a moment. ♪ [music break] >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> we turn to look at the state of wall street for years after the massive bailout and the news of this week's mortgage settlement with the major banks.